West Loop's Three-Floor Japanese Flagship
Momotaro on Lake Street is the Boka Restaurant Group's Japanese flagship — three full floors covering izakaya, robata grill, and a sushi counter, all running at the level the city's most ambitious Asian rooms demand.
The cooking is contemporary Japanese with proper sourcing: a sushi counter that takes the discipline seriously, a robata grill running through Japanese vegetables and proteins, and an izakaya menu that handles the broader Japanese small-plate canon.
What to Order
Sushi flights at the counter — the highest-impact way to experience the kitchen. Robata-grilled vegetables and meats, seasonal small plates, the dessert programme that all Boka kitchens take seriously. The sake list is one of the deepest in the Midwest.
The Sushi Counter
The sushi counter is the seat to take. Eight or so stools facing the chefs, a clear view of every plate, the kind of restaurant-grade interaction the format demands.
Best Occasion: First Date
Momotaro is one of Chicago's quiet first-date wins. The three-floor scale means the room can absorb a busy evening; the sushi counter provides intimate seating; the sake programme provides natural conversation. The Boka lineage gives the evening a register that less ambitious Japanese rooms cannot match.